Gain changer

ABSTRACT

A device for adjusting the gain of the amplifier which drives the control surfaces of an aerodynamic vehicle to compensate for changes in lateral acceleration of the vehicle wherein the acceleration component of the commanded guidance is compared to the measured acceleration normal to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. If the commanded acceleration is higher than that measured, the gain of the variable gain amplifier which drives the control surfaces of the aerodynamic vehicle is increased.

Unite-d StatesPatent Woodworth et al. [451 'May 9, 1972 I [54] GAIN CHANGER Primary Examiner-Benjamin A. Borchelt Assistant Examiner-H. A. Birmiel [72] Inventors: William H. Woodworth; Jack A. Crawu B R M" d H l b rm, both of China Lake. Calif. A m my Jam 5 I 3 Asian; [571 ABSTRACT by the seem", of the A device for adjusting the gain of the amplifier which drives 22 il d; J 16, 1969 the control surfaces of an aerodynamic vehicle to compensate for changes-in lateral acceleration of the vehicle wherein the [21] APPI- 844,732 acceleration component of the commanded guidance is compared to the measured acceleration normal to the longitudinal 521 "05.0. .244/77 0, 244/75 R, 3l8/648, axis of the vehicle: If the commanded acceleration is higher 3 3 51 than that measured, thegain of the variablegain amplifier [51 l q 364 13 50, 4 -15/00 which drives the control surfaces of the aerodynamic vehicle 58 ..24 4/77 E, 77 G, 77 D;3l8/65l isincr'caseda v so anemic Cited v 3 'f 'v UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,359,793 12/ 1967 Kendall etal. .t 244/770 a d nevmou CONTROL.

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surname: coumrlon A zmuTH GUIDANCE ELEVATION CONTROL ELEVATION VARIABLE GAIN AMPLIFIER l5 ELEVATION BI-DIRECTIONAL SWITCH AZINUTH Bl-DIRECTIONAL SWITCH AZIMUTH vARIAaLE GAIN AMPLIFIER I71 AzmuTII CONTROL ELEVATION GUIDANCE LEVEL DETECTOR INTEGRATOR TRIM INITIAL CONDITION 242 I,I9 ELEVATION GUIDANCE INVENTORS. WILLIAM H. WOODWORTH FIG. 3.

III.I. H

SAWTOOTH GENE R ATOR I VERTICAL ACCELEROMETER .PATENTEDMII 9 I972 SIAWTOOTH "GENERATOR INTEGIATOR B LEVEL os'rzc'ron the block diagram of FIG. 1 and c mcnANo R oovERuMEurrNT sT BACKGROUNDOF .rnaINvENTioN In controlling an aerodynamic body,-the amount of force on I a control surface necessary. to cause lateral acceleration ofthe vehicle increases as the speed of the vehicle increasesltis desirable to provide for linear control over a substantial range of speeds, thus, a simple fixed .gravityterm applied ;to' a guidance control unit is unsatisfactory for compensating for the decrease in acceleration of the vehicle asthe speed of the vehicle increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION output whenever the difference of the sawtooth generator output and the integrated difference of the measured acceleration and the electronic guidance .signal ispositive, pulse width the level detector produces an output, bi-directionalswitches ground out the feedback of the variable gain amplifier. Therefore, if the commanded acceleration ishigher than that measured, the output voltage of the integrator changes at a rate modulates the output of the sawtooth generator. Whenever I proportional to the difference between the measured and BRIEF DESCRIPTION THE DRAWING S FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a gain changerinaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a variablegain amplifier of FIG. 3 illustrates various wave-forms atvarious pointsin the block diagram of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. 1, an'integrator 18 receives. verticalacceleration informationtfrom vertical accelerometer 22, elevation guidance information 21, and trim guidance information 20. Vertical accelerometer 22 measures-the vertical acceleration normal to the longitudinal-flight path of an aerodynamic vehicle. Trim guidance component 20 corrects for the con- .stant acceleration of gravity, and-initial condition l9-starts integrator 18 at time zero. 7

In operation, the gain changer receives elevation. guidance information 21 and azimuth guidance.informatiorr26. Elevation variable gain amplifier l5 drives elevation control 16 which manipulates the control surfaces of the aerodynamic vehicle to-change the flight pathin the vertical direction. .Similarly azimuth guidancecontrol 26 drives azimuth variable gain amplifier 13 which in turn drives azimuth control 17 which manipulates control surfaces to change-thefiight path of the aerodynamic vehicle in the horizontal direction. FIG. 2 is a schematic of elevation variable gain amplifier 15 .which comprises, operational amplifier'23 having a feedback network comprising the parallel combination of capacitor 24 and center tapped resistor 27. Center tapped resistor 27 is capable ofbeinggroundedat point '25. Azimuth variable gain amplifier IBis identicaI to elevation variable gainamplifier .15.

. sawtoothgeneratonlo generates a sawtoothwave-formas .shown in 'FIG.'3A. Level detector ll sums the output of integrator :18 and the output from the sawtooth generator. .lntegrator .18 sums information coming from vertical accelerometer 22, elevation guidancesignal 21 and trim 20.to

ingDC voltage as shown in FIG.;3B. Level detector 11 sums thesignals from sawtooth generator .10 and integrator 11 to obtain their difference. Whenever this difference ispositive the level detector outputs a predetermined direct current voltage as shown in FIG. 3C.

The output of level detector 1! drives bi-directional switches. and 12. Whenever leveldetector 11 produces a positive output, elevation bi-directional switch 14 grounds out center tap point .25 of. elevation variable gain amplifier l5. Thisground out increasesthe effective gain of amplifier l5. Whenever elevation bi-directional switch 14 v is not commanded to ground out point 2!, thegain of elevation variable gain amplifier 15. is minimum. By grounding out point 25 in response to the .output of level detector 11, the efiective average gain of amplifier 15 is controlled. Capacitor 24 smooths the grounding effect so that the effective average gain increases asthe pulse width of the output of level detector 11.

increases.

In effect, what is happening is that the elevation variable gain amplifieris gain responsive to the pulse width of level detectorll.

Level detector 11 controls azimuth bi-directional switch 12.

Thus, whenever level detector 11 produces an output, bidirectional switch 12, grounds out the center tap resistor on azimuth variable gain amplifier 13. Thus, the averagegain of azimuth variable gain amplifier 13 is controlled by the output frornlevel detector .11. Tests have shown that both azimuth and. elevation amplifiers should have vtheirgain increased as the verticalacceleration increases.

.In accordance with this invention the gain of both elevation variable amplifier 15 and azimuth variable gain amplifier 13 is controlled by a'single level detector responsiveto a vertical accelerometer responsive to changes in vertical acceleration normal to the-longitudinal axisof an aerodynamic vehicle.

.What is claimed is: l

1. A device for adjusting the gain of the amplifier which drives the control surfaces of an aerodynamic vehicle to compensate for changes in lateral acceleration of the vehicle comprising:

means for measuring the acceleration ofsaid vehicle normal to thelongitudinal axis of said vehicle and producing an electronic signal proportional to said acceleration;

means for producing an electronic. guidance signal for said vehicle;

means for summing the electronic signal proportional to saidacceleration and (the electronic guidance signal to obtain their difference, and to integrate said difference;

an oscillator;

a variable gain amplifier, driven by said electronic guidance signal having gain responsive to the pulse width of said oscillator;

said amplifier driving a control surface of the vehicle; and

means for varying the pulse width of said oscillator in responseto the integrated differenceof the electronic signal proportional to said acceleration and the electronic 1 guidancesignal; so that theigain of said amplifier controlling the path of said vehicle the variable gain amplifier includes a feedback circuit com prising the parallel combination of a capacitor and a center-tapped resistor; and the means for varying the pulse width of said sawtooth generator comprises: means for summing the output of said integrator and the output of said sawtooth generator to obtain their difference, a level detector producing a constant output whenever said difference of the sawtooth generator and integrator outputs is positive, and x a bi-directional switch grounding the center-tap of said feedback resistor of the variable gain amplifier whenever the level detector produces an output, so that the average gain of the variable gain amplifier varies in response to the measured acceleration.

3. The device as set forth in claim 2 wherein:

said amplifier drives a first control surface for controlling the path of the vehicle along a first axis in response to said guidance signal;

said bi-directional switch operates upon said amplifier in response to said level detector;

a second guidance signal is generated for controlling the path of the vehicle along a second axis;

a second amplifier drives a second control surface for controlling the path of the vehicle along said second axis in response to said second guidance signal; and

a second bi-directional switch operates upon said second amplifier in response to said level detector. 

1. A device for adjusting the gain of the amplifier which drives the control surfaces of an aerodynamic vehicle to compensate for changes in lateral acceleration of the vehicle comprising: means for measuring the acceleration of said vehicle normal to the longitudinal axis of said vehicle and producing an electronic signal proportional to said acceleration; means for producing an electronic guidance signal for said vehicle; means for summing the electronic signal proportional to said acceleration and the electronic guidance signal to obtain their difference, and to integrate said difference; an oscillator; a variable gain amplifier driven by said electronic guidance signal having gain Responsive to the pulse width of said oscillator; said amplifier driving a control surface of the vehicle; and means for varying the pulse width of said oscillator in response to the integrated difference of the electronic signal proportional to said acceleration and the electronic guidance signal; so that the gain of said amplifier controlling the path of said vehicle varies in response to said measured acceleration.
 2. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein: the oscillator is a sawtooth generator; the variable gain amplifier includes a feedback circuit comprising the parallel combination of a capacitor and a center-tapped resistor; and the means for varying the pulse width of said sawtooth generator comprises: means for summing the output of said integrator and the output of said sawtooth generator to obtain their difference, a level detector producing a constant output whenever said difference of the sawtooth generator and integrator outputs is positive, and a bi-directional switch grounding the center-tap of said feedback resistor of the variable gain amplifier whenever the level detector produces an output, so that the average gain of the variable gain amplifier varies in response to the measured acceleration.
 3. The device as set forth in claim 2 wherein: said amplifier drives a first control surface for controlling the path of the vehicle along a first axis in response to said guidance signal; said bi-directional switch operates upon said amplifier in response to said level detector; a second guidance signal is generated for controlling the path of the vehicle along a second axis; a second amplifier drives a second control surface for controlling the path of the vehicle along said second axis in response to said second guidance signal; and a second bi-directional switch operates upon said second amplifier in response to said level detector. 